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Syrian rebels free 21 UN peacekeepers

Rebels in southern Syria have freed 21 UN peacekeepers after holding them hostage for four days, driving them to the border with Jordan.

The abduction and the difficult negotiations that ended it highlight the disorganisation of the rebel movement, which has hindered its ability to fight President Bashar al-Assad and complicates vows by the US and others to provide assistance.

It also has raised concerns about the future of UN operations in the area.

The Filipino peacekeepers were abducted on Wednesday by one of the insurgent groups operating in southern Syria near the Jordanian border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where a UN force has patrolled a ceasefire line between Israel and Syria for nearly four decades.

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Activists associated with the group, the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, gave different reasons for seizing the 21 men.

First they demanded that all government forces leave the area, then they suggested the peacekeepers were human shields against government attacks.

They subsequently declared them "honoured guests" held for their own safety.

They also released videos online, including one on Saturday of a bearded rebel commander with his arms around two peacekeepers' shoulders, flashing a V for victory sign.

On Saturday, after negotiations that the top UN official in Damascus described as "long and difficult," the rebels changed the plan to deliver the peacekeepers to a UN team, instead taking them to the Jordanian border.

Video broadcast by Arab satellite channels late on Saturday showed them sitting at a round conference table in Amman, their bright blue helmets in front of them.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed their release and called on all parties in Syria to respect the peacekeepers' freedom of movement.

Raul Hernandez, spokesman for the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs, said on Sunday the initial plan for the peacekeepers is for them to stay in Jordan for two days before they return to the Golan Heights.

Hernandez also cited reports from Philippine ambassador to Jordan Olivia Palala indicating that the peacekeepers are safe.

It was the first time in nearly two years of violence in Syria that UN personnel have been directly caught up in the conflict, which evolved from an uprising against Assad that broke out in March 2011 and has left more than 70,000 people dead, according to the UN.

Even the rebel's political leadership, the Syrian National Coalition, which the US and other powers have officially recognised, has no direct control over fighters on the ground.

And it remains unclear how many rebels follow its associated High Military Command, which was formed in Turkey in December.

This lack of a central command has hindered rebel efforts against government forces and discouraged the US and others from providing arms.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a letter to the United Nations on Saturday that the Syrian army had held its fire in the area "out of concern for the security and safety of the UN forces".

It called on the UN to "unequivocally condemn the attacks of those terrorist groups against civilians and work to dislodge those terrorist groups immediately from the region."

The peacekeepers are part of a UN mission known as UNDOF that was set up to monitor a ceasefire in 1974, seven years after Israel captured the plateau and a year after it pushed back Syrian troops trying to recapture the territory.

On Friday, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said "the mission in the Golan needs to review its security arrangements and it has been doing that".